Airport rescue fire fighting (“ARFF”) vehicles carry a significant amount of electrical and electromechanical equipment that is useful in the task of fighting fires. For example, en route to a fire, ARFF vehicles utilize flashing emergency lights and emergency sirens to alert other vehicles or airplanes to the presence of the ARFF vehicles on the roadway and thereby to allow the ARFF vehicles to reach the scene of the fire more quickly and safely. Once at the scene of a fire, additional lighting systems are used that provide scene lighting, utility lighting, and so on. Additionally, ARFF vehicles have electromechanical systems that address specific needs on the vehicle. It is common for fire trucks to have well in excess of one hundred individual electrical output devices, especially if the fire truck includes an aerial system.
Typically, control systems for ARFF vehicles have been hardwired control systems in which wires are individually run between input devices, output devices, and control logic (e.g., relay logic). Due to the significant number of I/O devices on-board an ARFF vehicle, performing vehicle wiring of an ARFF vehicle has been a time consuming task. For example, to connect wiring from I/O devices in the cab area, it has generally not been possible to perform bench top wiring of a cab portion of the vehicle frame and then mount the cab portion on the vehicle. Rather, vehicle wiring must be performed with the cab frame already in place on the chassis, and with all the attendant difficulties of working in awkward positions and locations. An improved ARFF vehicle control systems that is easy to install would be advantageous.
Additionally, ARFF control systems have often been implemented as disparate systems. For example, many ARFF vehicles comprise a roof mounted articulated water tower and/or a low attach turret system, such as a bumper mounted turret. Generally, the control systems for these devices have been implemented as stand-alone control systems separate from the control system(s) for the other vehicle I/O devices described above. An improved ARFF vehicle control systems that intelligent and robust and that provides for overall control of a variety of different types of I/O devices would be advantageous.